Currently, I have a Boot Camp partition running Windows Vista (I know, I know, but a family member gave me a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate for free.) I'd like to take advantage of Microsoft's offer to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $40, but don't know the pitfalls of doing that?

Anybody done this yet?

Do the Apple Boot Camp utilities support Win 8 yet?

Is Win Vista --> Win 8 an in-place upgrade or do I need to clean-install?

I use my Boot Camp partition mainly for gaming. Any gaming pitfalls on Win 8 via Boot Camp so far?

I experimented with the Windows 8 Release Preview in a VMWare virtual machine on my Mac just for kicks, and very much enjoyed it. IMHO, it's the best update to the Windows experience since Windows 95. Whoever told you that Windows 7 is "more user friendly" than Windows 8 is just a luddite nitwit who's afraid of change. Windows 8's interface is truly modern while Windows 7 is 2001's Windows XP with a fancy paint job.

Windows 8 is a totally different user interface metaphor (even though the classic Desktop is still embedded in there). So there is a learning curve, and, for someone who might be a casual or tentative computer user, that learning curve could be daunting.

But I'm old enough to have been using Windows since Windows 3.1 (and MS-DOS before that), not to mention having bought my first Mac in 1985 (and an Apple IIe before that). And don't make me break out my Commodore 64 creds. So I'm well over any fear of OS user interface change and have a pretty good basis for comparison. :-)

If Windows 8 doesn't function well under Boot Camp, I can always roll back to Windows Vista. I just don't want to go through the bother of upgrading, re-installing software (because it looks like you can't do an in-place upgrade to Win 8 from XP or Vista), and then downgrading and re-reinstalling if I don't have to. Eventually Windows 8 will work fine under Boot Camp, but before I jump out on the bleeding edge, I'm looking for feedback.

very much enjoyed it. IMHO, it's the best update to the Windows experience since Windows 95. Whoever told you that Windows 7 is "more user friendly" than Windows 8 is just a luddite nitwit who's afraid of change.

No. Your display will revert to 640x480 every time you boot into Windows. You will be forced to alternate between updating to WDDM 1.1 and removing WDDM 1.1, both of which sets your display to the right resolution.

But all the other drivers work perfectly.

Is Win Vista —> Win 8 an in-place upgrade or do I need to clean-install?

You need to clean install. You PROBABLY don't need to, but no, you REALLY need to.

Any gaming pitfalls on Win 8 via Boot Camp so far?

Good luck getting a working video driver to ACTUALLY STICK that isn't just the most basic one capable of reading your screen's resolution. And, by extension, capable of advanced video settings that would allow you to play games at meaningful qualities.